Synopses & Reviews

Synopsis:

Powerful, vivid, and devastating, this novel captures the catastrophe of war through a child's eyes and shows how words have the ability to mend what is broken and resurrect what is lost.

Synopsis:

The hardcover publication of How the Soldier Repairs the Gramophone launched Stanisic as an exciting and important new voice in literary fiction and earned exuberant praise from readers and critics alike. Now in paperback, Stanisics debut about a boy who experiences the Bosnian War and finds the secret to survival in language and stories is bound to dazzle a whole new readership.

For Aleksandar Krsmanovic, Grandpa Slavkos stories endow life in Višegrad with a kaleidoscopic brilliance. Neighbors, friends, and family past and present take on a mythic quality; the River Drina courses through town like the pulse of life itself. So when his grandfather dies suddenly, Aleksandar promises to carry on the tradition. But then soldiers invade Višegrad&#8212;a town previously unconscious of racial and religious divides&#8212;and its no longer important that Aleksandar is the best magician in the nonaligned states; suddenly it is important to have the right last name and to convince the soldiers that Asija, the Muslim girl who turns up in his apartment building, is his sister.

Alive with the magic of childhood, the surreality of war and exile, and the power of language, every page of this glittering novel thrums with the joy of storytelling.

What Our Readers Are Saying

Average customer rating based on 1 comment:

amabre, June 22, 2009 (view all comments by amabre)
I picked up this novel after attempting (and then giving up on) a couple of others that I felt I was wasting my time on. I wanted to read a truly valuable book...and then I found this one.

This starts out happy. And then it gets a little bleak. And then it comes together in a manic fit of emotion.

This is Aleksandar's documented memory and it provides so much insight to his shattered world. At times, we are as disillusioned as he is-but then he enlightens us with his deft storytelling... His sporadic thoughts...

"If I were a magician who could make things possible, I'd have lemonade always tasting as it did on the evening Francesco explained how right it was for the Italian moon to be a feminine moon. If I were a magician who could make things possible, we'd be able to understand all languages every evening between eight and nine. If I were a magician who could make things possible, all dams would keep their promises. If I were a magician who could make things possible, we'd be really brave."

There were parts of the book that were hard to get through-war is very devastating topic but Sasa Stanisic is a truly innovative author. This was spectacular.

"Synopsis"
by Ingram,
Powerful, vivid, and devastating, this novel captures the catastrophe of war through a child's eyes and shows how words have the ability to mend what is broken and resurrect what is lost.

"Synopsis"
by Firebrand,

The hardcover publication of How the Soldier Repairs the Gramophone launched Stanisic as an exciting and important new voice in literary fiction and earned exuberant praise from readers and critics alike. Now in paperback, Stanisics debut about a boy who experiences the Bosnian War and finds the secret to survival in language and stories is bound to dazzle a whole new readership.

For Aleksandar Krsmanovic, Grandpa Slavkos stories endow life in Višegrad with a kaleidoscopic brilliance. Neighbors, friends, and family past and present take on a mythic quality; the River Drina courses through town like the pulse of life itself. So when his grandfather dies suddenly, Aleksandar promises to carry on the tradition. But then soldiers invade Višegrad&#8212;a town previously unconscious of racial and religious divides&#8212;and its no longer important that Aleksandar is the best magician in the nonaligned states; suddenly it is important to have the right last name and to convince the soldiers that Asija, the Muslim girl who turns up in his apartment building, is his sister.

Alive with the magic of childhood, the surreality of war and exile, and the power of language, every page of this glittering novel thrums with the joy of storytelling.

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